Ex-Holcim CEO expand stake in company past 20%

Thomas Schmidheiny, former chief executive of Holcim Ltd, has increased his holdings in the world’s largest cement maker by sales past 20%.

Schmidheiny’s investment vehicle, Schweizerische Cement Industrie AG, has increased its holding from 18.2% to 20.1% of the voting rights at Holcim, the Swiss company said late Thursday.

Joerg Denzler, spokesman for Schmidheiny, said: "Mr Schmidheiny had a major stake, but after the last increase of capital this went down to about 18%. He always said that he wanted to increase his stake to over 20%, and that is what he has done."

Schmidheiny, whose family established the Holcim predecessor company Holderbank Financiere Glaris Ltd, was CEO at the Zurich company from 1978 to 2001 and chairman from 1984 to 2003.

"When he left the company he always said he would remain an important shareholder," said Denzler.

The move follows Eurocement, Russia’s largest cement holder, taking its own stake past 10% in September.